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Floyd Lawton
Floyd Lawton, known on the street as Deadshot, is the most wanted hitman in the world. After he was captured by the vigilante known as Batman in Gotham, Lawton was imprisoned in Belle Reve, where he was recruited by Amanda Waller to join the government-sanctioned Task Force X. While on a mission in Midway City, Lawton was tasked with the defeat of Enchantress, who built a doomsday device in the city, and her brother Incubus. His success served to reduce his prison sentence and allowed Lawton to visit his daughter, Zoe Lawton. Biography Early Life Floyd Lawton was born on December 4, 1978. Lawton began his vigilante career in Gotham City, but gradually evolved into a high-cost assassin and mercenary. Lawton became a calculating, professional criminal, capable of performing any execution for desired price. Mission In Gotham City When Deadshot was on hire to kill an informant in police custody who was about to testify against his client, he set up a hardened reflective panel in front of the courthouse and waited for the police convoy to arrive. Deadshot called his client Angelo and demanded that he get paid immediately before killing the informant. As the convoy arrived and Deadshot threatened to call off the hit, he received his payment of $1 million upfront. However, for being rude to him, Deadshot then demanded that Angelo double the payment. Through manipulation, Angelo begrudgingly doubled Deadshot's payment to $2 million. Satisfied, he cocked his wrist-mounted gun and fired a bullet from atop a tall building, perfectly striking the reflective panel and killing the informant. With his job complete, he put on his white mask and fled the scene by rappelling down the building. Captured by Batman In December of 2013, after hearing of Deadshot, Amanda Waller becomes a situational ally of Batman, giving the latter some crucial information on how to track the assassin down. Hence, while Deadshot is walking down the street with his daughter Zoe, Batman suddenly glides down and seizes Deadshot, telling the latter to surrender, not wanting to do anything in front of Deadshot's daughter. Deadshot attempts to fight off the vigilante, but Batman swiftly gets the better of him, knocking Deadshot to the ground. Deadshot then promptly takes out his gun and attempts to shoot Batman, but Zoe stands in the way, crying because she did not want her father to kill anyone else. After a moment, Deadshot surrenders his gun and himself to Batman, who cuffs him to a gate and leaves him for the GCPD, who find him being hugged by a saddened Zoe who proclaims she loves her father while he says nothing. He is subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment at Belle Reve in Louisiana where he is subjected to abuse from the prison guards there including Captain Hunter Griggs. Recruited into Task Force X In 2016, nine months after Griggs took over as his main guard at Belle Reve, Deadshot is incarcerated in a prison where he is often mistreated by the guards of Belle Reve especially Griggs who feeds him disgusting food and beat him regularly. While alone in his cell, he thinks about the last words his daughter spoke to him that "She loves him, even though he does bad things." Later, Amanda Waller gathers skilled individuals and meta-humans for Project Task Force X. While being coerced into joining the team, Deadshot personally displays his sharpshooter skills in front of Rick Flag, Waller, Griggs, and others in an attempt to negotiate that he be released and his daughter Zoe Lawton should be well provided for including a free ride to an Ivy League University in exchange for his services. Deployment in Midway City With the attack in Midway City, Michigan by the mystical duo Enchantress and Incubus, Deadshot, along with the other members of the Suicide Squad (such as Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, and Killer Croc), are implanted with explosive nanotechnology provided by Dr. Van Criss and transferred to an evacuation point outside of the city, where they are joined by Slipknot. As the villains suit up for their mission, Harley asks if Deadshot is hesitant to put on his gear because it will no longer fit due to weight gain, He replies "No," and says that every time he puts it on "somebody dies" and that he "likes putting it on." They are given instructions by Waller via an electronic tablet that they are under Flag's direct command and extracting a highly valued asset known as HVT1 from the besieged city and will receive 10 years off of their life sentences as a reward. Flag warned them if they annoy him or try to escape, he will kill them by using his touchpad to detonate their implanted nanobots - blowing their heads off. Deadshot informs Flag his motivational skills are lacking, citing he's no Phil Jackson and that even Waller's technique is superior to his. Deadshot states Task Force X is essentially just a "Suicide Squad". Flag's bodyguard Katana joins them at the last moments before take-off, with another helicopter carrying Squad B escorting them. While mid-flight en route to their destination, Deadshot sees Harley communicating by text to the Joker with a phone that was given to her by a coerced Griggs. Harley signals for Deadshot to be quiet about it and he decides to comply. When Harley notices the otherworldly disturbance caused by Enchantress, Deadshot asks Flag what happened and the latter lies calling it just a terrorist attack. This causes Deadshot to call him out as a bad liar. Lawton states he is a killer and hitman and he is not in the business of saving people. Flag remarks Lawton will do anything for pay. After Lawton snaps back Flag "knows the dark places, too." Flag proudly declares he is a soldier and that Deadshot is a serial murderer for hire and that when the shooting starts Lawton will "just cut and run." as he thinks nothing of the hitman. When their helicopter is shot down, the squad is forced to travel the rest of the way on foot, splitting up with Squad B, who safely lands their helicopter nearby. After Captain Boomerang talks Slipknot into a foolish attempt to escape, getting the latter killed in the process by Flag, he asks who will die next and threatens Lawton. Afterward, Deadshot and Harley bond (with her referring to him as her "Friend" and he called her "Doll Face") and plot against Flag to turn the odds in their favor the first chance they get. Battle of Midway City Soon after, the group encounters weird looking creatures in the Enchantress' employment known as the Eyes of the Adversary. Flag again threatens to blow Lawton's head off if he runs away when Deadshot inquires about the mutated creatures. When Deadshot and Flag, and the others approach them, the creatures become hostile and attack. The squad is initially overwhelmed as the monsters capture Flag, much to Harley's delight. Knowing the Squad members are as good as dead if the colonel is injured or killed, Deadshot reminds her of what Waller had said about that and leads his teammates to rally and turns the fight in their favor as Flag is recovered. By himself, he stands on a car and guns down many creatures, leaving even members of the US Army in awe of his skills. Saying that is how he "cuts and run" to Flag, the proud hitman stops Harley from beating up the dead creatures when she claims to have seen them move. He then asks Flag if the monstrous "terrorists" were once civilians (which the latter admitted), having seen one of the Eyes wearing a $3,000 watch. While moving on with the objective, the determined Colonel then contacts Waller when all contact with Squad B fails and learns the other squadron was engaged with another group of Eyes at the same time, but were all taken as prisoners and brought to the Enchantress herself. About halfway to the building where HVT1 is located, Deadshot stops to look through the window of a children's clothing store. There, he sees a child-size mannequin of a winter parka similar to the one Zoe wore the day he was captured. After witnessing Deadshot's abilities in combat situations and seeing how the other members of Task Force X interact with and respect him, Flag asks Lawton to help him lead and keep the group in line so they have better odds of surviving the mission. He promises to pull strings for Deadshot if he complies stating Waller is not the only one with connections. Deadshot keeps Harley in line when she begins to taunt Croc and Katana asking her to "play nice with the other children." Retrieving Waller When they reach the John F. Ostrander Federal Building, Deadshot goes ahead of the rest of the group despite protest from Flag. Flag and company immediately follow him into the building, and when Harley breaks away from the others Lawton, Flag, and the others go after Harley together. When Flag is given the heads up the group is surrounded by hostiles, Deadshot puts on his trademark protective mask, prompting Harley to mock him as a "pussy" and Lawton to admonish her and threaten to knock her out despite her being a girl. When the group is under attack from the Eyes of the Adversary, Lawton gets Harley, Boomerang, Croc, and Katana to circle Flag to protect him from the army of the Eyes of the Adversary. He then aggravates El Diablo enough by taunting him, that he kills the hostile creatures around them. Lawton apologizes to Santana afterward stating he was just trying to motivate like Phil Jackson. As they advance up to the higher levels of the building, using the stairs, Deadshot has a gun pointed in his face by Harley who is lost in thought about the night of her transformation physically at Ace Chemicals. When she regains her focus, she lowers the gun she had pointed at her friend. Harley then asks Deadshot point blank if "he's ever been in love?" To which Deadshot reply's "Naw. Never" stating he doubts he'd be able to sleep so well at night having killed as many people as he has and could feel deep emotions like love. Harley refers to Deadshot as "another textbook sociopath" possibly comparing him to her lover, the Joker. Once the group reaches the intended floor, Flag asks to continue into a secured room alone to retrieve the target, Deadshot states their rescuee better "cure cancer" after all the trouble they've gone through. Initially, Flag and the target revealed to be Waller herself, talk but are soon joined in conversation by Deadshot. Lawton is present as he and Flag witness Waller murder every single member of her FBI special ops team because they didn't have "clearance." He calls Waller "a mean lady" for the cold-blooded murders. Having acquired Waller, Lawton, Flag, and the rest of the Suicide Squad escort her to the roof for a helicopter pick up. When it's revealed the Joker hijacked Waller's rescue ride and opens fire on the Suicide Squad he tells Harley to use this moment for her escape as the others duck for cover. When a captive Dr. Van Criss jams the signal that allows Flag to detonate the nano explosive in her neck, Waller approaches Deadshot with a bounty for Harley. Waller tempts a hesitant Deadshot with freedom for himself and real-life for his daughter if he kills Harley. He promises to do it, but refusing to be just a pawn Deadshot, the man that never misses, intentionally aims off-target and spares a vulnerable Harley. His refusal to kill one of their own further earns him the respect of his fellow Task Force X members, especially Captain Boomerang. It appears to be for nothing when Waller orders the hijacked helicopter by Jokers gang shot down and Joker and Harley are killed. Lawton becomes further disheartened when Waller's freshly arrived Helicopter shortly after is also shot down by the Eyes of the Adversary army, and Flag admits Lawton has no deal if they do not rescue Waller. Outside the building on the street level once again the Suicide Squad is reunited with Harley who thinks her lover is now dead. Grateful Harley is still alive and that his act of defiance wasn't for nothing, Deadshot grabs Harley into his arms from on top of a car roof and lowers his friend safely onto the ground. Drowning Sorrows With Enchantress's heart returned and Amanda Waller her valuable captive for top secret information about Earth's defenses, Enchantress's machine neared completion. As the group advanced closer on what Deadshot called "A big swirling ring of trash in the sky," he grew more concerned about what the squad was getting itself into and demanded answers. When Flag blew him off, Waller's binder of classified information caught Deadshot's eye at the helicopter crash site where Incubus attacked. Upon reading it and finding out the truth that all the chaos is being caused by all-powerful fellow squad member went rogue and her brother, and that Waller is inadvertently responsible, Deadshot demands Flag tell the group. When Deadshot gives up hope and states Flag needs a miracle, he abandons the mission to go get a drink at a nearby bar. The other Squad members follow him including Flag's bodyguard Katana. Inside the bar, the Suicide Squad drowns their sorrows about the end of the world. Deadshot makes a toast to " honor among thieves" prompting Katana to declare she's not one. Deadshot reminds everyone that they will be blamed for everything. When Harley asks what his deal was with Flag was, he admits to being offered his freedom and his daughter. An angry El Diablo explodes and says Lawton allowed himself to be used by Flag. Lawton states he knew but allowed it so he could have hope. El Diablo states that hope doesn't stop karma and that it's coming to him and asks Deadshot how many victims he's killed. Along with the rest of the squad, a defensive Lawton listens as Santana admits to killing his wife and kids in a fit of anger when he burned down their house. Shocked and horrified Deadshot tries to get Harley to back off Santana when she proclaims it was destined to happen because people like them do not get a normal life. As the group continues to talk and drink as the world ends, they are joined by Flag who extends an olive branch to the group by destroying the nanodevice. He shows Deadshot what he was saving for after their mission was successful, letters from his daughter Zoe who writes him daily. Angry about that being kept from him, yet inspired and wanting to show his daughter he's a worthwhile person and not just a killer for hire, Deadshot vows to help Flag complete the mission and save Waller along with the rest of the world. As Deadshot rejoins the mission Harley follows his lead stating that she too will help and urges Katana, El Diablo, and Killer Croc to do the same, they are even rejoined by Boomerang soon after he initially bolted. Facing Enchantress and Incubus The Suicide Squad and Special Ops team come up with a tentative plan to take on Incubus and Enchantress deciding to take out the former first with a demo charge. As they make their way to the final confrontation, Flag confides in Deadshot he never believed in the concept of love until he met June Moone and he's afraid she may be lost to him. Deadshot tells him to do whatever he has to do to avoid that and that he has his back. Deadshot goes to Diablo to make sure he will fight with them and not hold back, assuring a reluctant El Diablo they may have a chance at success if he fights with them as the group's most powerful metahuman. As they approach Enchantress, she is aware of their presence and invites the group to come out into the open to face her. Deadshot grabs Harley to stop her from foolishly confronting Enchantress too soon, and points her gun away from his face as they hide with Flag behind a pillar. To persuade the Suicide Squad to side with her, Enchantress feeds them visions of their heart's desire. For Deadshot personally, envisions killing the man he blames for his incarceration, loss of his daughter, and everything else ...the Batman. Instead of being arrested the night of his apprehension, he instead imagines ending Batman's life that night and avoiding the loss of everything he held dear mainly his wealth, daughter, and freedom. When El Diablo can see past Enchantress's visions, he helps the others break free of the illusions as well including Deadshot. When confronted by Incubus, Deadshot runs for cover with Rick Flag because they are outmatched. Lawton and Flag are joined by El Diablo who promises to get Incubus into position so the seals can blow a bomb beneath him to kill him. Deadshot urges El Diablo to "think it through," but Santana has made up his mind and is determined to help. He vows to show Deadshot, who gave him a motivation talk earlier, "what he is" as Diablo had lost his family before and wasn't ready to lose any of his new friends and surrogate family. When El Diablo temporarily goes down confronting Incubus, Deadshot and Harley immediately put themselves in danger to help him with Deadshot shooting at Incubus only to be brutally knocked down along with others. When El Diablo reveals his true metahuman form he holds his own with Incubus and gets him into position. When Incubus regains control of the fight, Deadshot repeats El Diablo's wishes to Flag to blow the charge so that Diablo could give his life for the team and rejoin his family in death and the afterlife. With Incubus, El Diablo, GQ, and the others dead, Deadshot looks at the Enchantress and declares she will be next. Enchantress tells Deadshot and the others despite the loss of her brother, her spell machine is completed and can wreak havoc on Earth's defenses as her darkness spreads across the globe. Deadshot asks Flag what to do before it is too late and Flag replies they have to remove the metahuman's heart to make her weak enough to be stopped. When Enchantress here's this she engages the members of Suicide Squad in a brutal battle. She immediately knocks Deadshot down to the ground as she attacks his teammates. As Enchantress emerges again within their sights, this time with powerful two swords in each hand, she forces Deadshot to block the deathblows with his wrist guns. Overwhelming him and the others she forcefully kicks Deadshot back several feet taking him out of the fight once again. He recovers just in time to save Rick Flag by deflecting a sword blow once again using his wrist weapon. He also saves Captain Boomerang from death when he was pinned by the magical being, distracting Enchantress by using all of his remaining ammo to shoot at her back long enough to allow Croc time to throw her off their teammate. When Harley brilliantly distracts Enchantress and cuts out her heart, Deadshot calls for her gun and he's able to target and shoot a charge thrown by Killer Croc at the heart of the mystical machine destroying it and saving the world from further destruction. This was accomplished despite a last-ditch effort by Enchantress to make Deadshot see an illusion of his daughter to convince him not to shoot. He immediately tells Rick Flag to back off when he tries to hug him after his incredible shot. Colonel Flag has to kill Enchantress by crushing her heart after she refuses to bring back Dr. June Moone. Deadshot is the first to call out to Flag after he notices June still alive beneath the Enchantress husk. As Lawton returns Harley's gun to her, and the pair plot to steal a car to drive back together to Gotham City. However, Waller reemerges with a functional nano detonation device and informs everyone the only place they are going is back to Belle Reve. Deadshot wants more than just 10 years of his prison sentence and demands to see his daughter again. Waller agrees to Lawton's request and accepts special requests from the other Suicide Squad members as well in return for them saving the world. Brief Reunion Later on, Lawton is back in Gotham City in an apartment using his skills to help his daughter with her homework. Rick Flag, who is also there, stops U.S. Marshals from putting Deadshot back into shackles before he can say goodbye to his little girl properly. Zoe hugs her father goodbye saying she loves him. Finally feeling worthy of his daughter's love after everything he's been through recently, Deadshot mutters "I love you too" back to Zoe. Back at Belle Reve, Deadshot is seen in his cell using his punching bag, with a big pile of his daughter's letters by the window. As Waller promised, Deadshot continues to have regular visits with Zoe. Appearance Appearance Floyd is a tall, bald and bearded African American man, who, during more intense combat situations, is seen wearing a white face mask and a technologically advanced eye-patch on his dominant left eye. He wears a molded bulletproof red-and-black vest and bodysuit, as well as multiple holsters on his person, which contain various firearms all the time. Personality Deadshot is a consummate professional: as long as he's been paid to kill someone, he will always carry it out without mercy, with the exception of women and children. He is also sarcastic and have a personal method where he has to be paid first to get his job done and will threaten his employers furthermore when he is offended, evidenced by wanting double the original pay for his job because his "client" was being a "dickhead;" alongside his sarcasm, he has an incredibly tough attitude, and can work even under the highest of pressure. Despite his sarcastic, tough attitude, Floyd notably strikes up a friendship with Harley Quinn quite quickly, empathizes with El Diablo after learning the latter's dark secret, is greatly respected by his fellow teammates, and has influence over them (with Rick Flag himself pointing this out), and finally he cares deeply for his beloved daughter Zoe, keeping a picture of her with him throughout his time as an assassin and inmate. He also holds a strict code about not killing women and children in his line of work, thus proving himself to have a strict moral compass. Notably, when Amanda Waller attempts to psychologically manipulate Deadshot by promising him freedom and a permanent reunion with Zoe in exchange for assassinating Harley Quinn, he is strongly tempted for a few long moments. Ultimately however, with quite a bit of visible effort, Deadshot realizes his unwillingness to betray his moral code of not murdering women, as well as his friendship with Harley (most likely also due to him realizing that Zoe wouldn't have ever approved of the circumstances of such a permanent reunion if she knew), and so he resists, instead pretending to miss while shooting at Harley (thou Deadshot may be willing to make exceptions, to his moral code in some situations, as he plotted with Harley to kill Rick Flag and Katana and contributed to Enchantress' defeat). Also, while not outspoken about it, Deadshot appears to be at least somewhat religious, wearing a cross while in civilian apparel and having several biblical verses written on the gauntlets and neck of his combat bodysuit. Abilities * Peak Human Condition: Deadshot, as a highly skilled and experienced assassin, is in top physical condition (from frequent intense workouts, which he does even during his imprisonment in Belle Reve). Hence, it took an entire squad of ARGUS agents with riot shields to pin down and restrain Deadshot after his cell was opened, but even then he was still able to kick 2 of them to the ground, despite several of them restraining his torso, and he was able hold his own against the Eyes of the Adversary troops. ** Peak Human Durability: Deadshot is exceptionally durable, withstanding a brutal beating at the hands of ARGUS agents while in Belle Reve, and swiftly recovering after being sent flying back by a superhumanly strong blow from Incubus, though this was also due to Deadshot's bulletproof bodysuit. * Master Marksman: Deadshot is an incredibly formidable and lethal marksman, even when not wearing his eye-patch, thus being extremely skilled with numerous ranged weapons (including 9 mm pistols, Gatling guns, revolvers, flare guns, potato cannons, machine guns, assault rifles, flamethrowers, sniper rifles, anti-tank rifles, shotguns, M1 carbines, Bazookas, Derringers, Uzis, grenade launchers, .44 magnums, and muskets), on par with Batman in that aspect, though even surpassing the Dark Knight himself in accuracy and precision, due to Deadshot being a former member of the US Special Forces. This is partially supported by Deadshot's proficiency with his eye scope, as well as the enhancement his high-tech eye-patch provides. His marksman skills are so great, that Deadshot is said to be lethal at 4 km, with him never missing a target that couldn't dodge, thereby earning his infamous nickname. Hence, he was able to easily shoot the same target numerous times in rapid succession with multiple different guns (greatly impressing Amanda Waller), and to single-handedly take down numerous monstrous troops of Enchantress, keeping the bulk of the army from advancing at the Suicide Squad (in fact doing it better single-handedly than the combined efforts of Rick Flag's entire gunmen squad, using only his machine- and wrist-mounted guns, dropping a monstrous troop with every single one of his numerous shots). Deadshot is thus one of the most formidable members of the Suicide Squad, on par with Katana and El Diablo, to whom Amanda Waller refers to as some of the most dangerous humans on Earth. * Expert Combatant: Deadshot, as a former member of the US Special Forces, is a highly skilled and formidable hand-to-hand combatant (managing to physically overpower several of Enchantress' monstrous troops), though not quite on Batman and Katana's level, as Deadshot was quite swiftly defeated and beaten to the ground by Batman (resulting in Deadshot's imprisonment in Belle Reve), and was later overpowered first by the gigantic Incubus, and then the extremely skilled and more powerful Enchantress (though he was notably able to block quite a few of her dagger slashes with his gauntlets, before being overpowered by her superior strength, skill, and teleportation). * Master Assassin: Deadshot is an extremely skilled assassin, having become an infamous gun for hire ever since leaving the US Special Forces, assassinating his targets in mere seconds after a price that satisfies Deadshot is offered. Indeed, prior to his imprisonment by Batman, Deadshot was the most wanted hitman in the world, with him therefore having elite clientele. * Skilled Leader: Deadshot, as noted by Rick Flag himself, is respected by his Suicide Squad teammates, and has a degree of influence over them. Hence, Deadshot managed to befriend and calm down Harley Quinn on several occasions, his idea of a mutiny against Flag and Katana was picked up by most of the Squad (apart from El Diablo), and Flag personally requested that Deadshot to help him keep the team in line. Equipment *'Eye-Piece': One of Deadshot's signature trademarks is the high-tech eye-patch that he wears over his face mask, on his dominant left eye. This eye-patch augments his already amazing marksman skills, and when combined with his sniper rifle's scope, makes it almost impossible for him to miss his target. It also provides him with mission data and target data. *'Deadshot Suit': When in the field on an assignment with Task Force X, Deadshot dons a bulletproof red-and-black vest and bodysuit, with many holsters, containing various firearms at all times. Indeed, this suit is durable enough to help him withstand slashes from Enchantress's mystical daggers, as well as a superhumanly mighty kick from Incubus, with minimal injury. *'Wrist Guns: '''As Deadshot, Floyd is armed with wrist mounted, gauntlet like firearms, which are the equivalent of sub machine guns in terms of firepower. They have trigger buttons on the hand, fire magnum and high caliber bullets and even ejects bullet shells like normal guns. He uses them in close combat along with his rifles and pistols. *[[Salient Arms International Tier One AR-15|'Salient Arms International Tier One AR-15']]':' Floyd's primary weapon of choice is the use of an AR-15 assault rifle, modified with a scope and vertical hand grip. *'Modified Glock 17:' Floyd's sidearm is a heavily modified Glock 17, with a compensator and red dot sight. Appearances *Suicide Squad'' *Suicide Squad: Behind the Scenes with the Worst Heroes Ever *Suicide Squad (Novel) Trivia * Floyd wears a very durable suit, able to withstand large explosions, gunfire at close range and electric shocks. *First live-action movie appearance. **Deadshot's absolute first live-action appearance, however, was on Smallville's tenth season portrayed by Bradley Stryker, he was then portrayed in Arrow by Michael Rowe. Interestingly, though, unlike those two versions, this Deadshot wears his eye-patch over his left eye instead of the right one. *Because of his introduction into the DCEU, the version in Arrow played by Michael Rowe, had to be killed off. *Due to scheduling conflicts with other projects, Smith had to drop out of the role as Deadshot and was replaced with Idris Elba for the sequel/soft-reboot. External Links * * Category:Suicide Squad Category:Suicide Squad characters Category:Characters in the comics Category:Characters without powers Category:Suicide Squad members Category:Humans Category:Americans Category:Males Category:Villains Category:Batman Villains Category:Batman Category:Character with martial arts skills Category:1978 births Category:Residents of Gotham City Category:Justice League Villains